Cut From Different Cloth — Uniqlo’s New Home

With a global business, 100,000 staff and a demanding digital-retail operation, a new headquarters for Japanese clothing company Uniqlo was always going to be a major undertaking. Its new home, Uniqlo City, opened in February in Tokyo’s Ariake district on the harbour, and is visible to anyone driving over the Rainbow Bridge. In a country where design can be an afterthought when it comes to corporate offices, this HQ sets a new standard. The building’s primary function is to consolidate the Uniqlo business: the sixth floor alone houses 1,000 people and, for the first time, brings together merchandising, design, R&D, marketing, production, planning, sales and IT. The aim is a more collaborative working culture and the architects have reconfigured the traditional office to make that possible. The company is changing from a regular clothing manufacturer to a hi-tech operation that responds in real time to what customers are buying and saying, adjusting production accordingly. This office is part of that revolution. Read more at Monocle.